Laced boot



June 30, 1942. s. R. GOOKIN LACED BOOT;

Filed June 13, 1940 ti .r

Patented June 30, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LACED BOOT Jersey Application June 13, 1940, Serial No. 340,233

2 Claims.

This invention relates to laced boots, and more particularly to field boots to be provided with thick, strong lacings and with two series of lacing clips arranged to maintain the bights of a lacing on the outer surface of a boot. The invention is illustrated as providing improved arrangements of lacing clips of the type set forth in a pending application Serial No. 332,754, filed May 1, 1940, in the name of S. L. Gookin.

Because of conditions under which such boots are worn and the arrangement of the lacings, the clips are subjected to stresses that tend to swing them around their points of anchorage, as when the components of pulling force of the lacing are not evenly balanced.

Boots provided with such clips are intended to be worn over thick socks or stockings, but even if a boot is large enough to be worn over a sock of maximum thickness it should also be capable of being laced snugly against the foot when a sock of less thickness is worn.

With these considerations in view, the present invention provides improved arrangements of lacing clips and the fasteners by which they are secured to the quarters of a boot. A novel feature common to all the examples illustrated is that one end of each clip is inserted through an incision in at least one layer of the margin of a quarter. When the terminal portions of a clip are secured to the quarter a short distance from the corresponding incision the latter, being no longer than necessary to receive the intersecting portion of the clip, is effective to prevent the pulling forces of a lacing from swinging the clip about its anchoring fastener.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a ski-boot provided with lacing clips according to the present invention; and

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are cross-sections of a margin of one of the quarters of such a boot exemplifying alternative arrangements of a lacing clip and alternative arrangements of the fasteners by which they are secured to the quarter.

The boot represented in Fig. l is a typical example of a ski-boot, the quarters of which have separable margins I2, I2 to be connected in edgeto-edge relation by a lacing, the lower portion I3 of which is represented in dotted lines and the upper portion of which is omitted to avoid obscuring details of the boot. For the same reason, three pairs of lacing clips are omitted from this drawing of a boot. It is to be understood that a complete lacing will have sufficient lacing clips and to be tied at the top of the boot.

Each of the margins I2 is provided with a series of fastener-receiving holes I4 and a series of incisions I5, the purpose of the incisions being to receive portions of lacing clips, and that of the holes I4 being to receive fastenerssuch as eyelets or rivets, by which the lacing clips may be anchored to the quarters.

The quarters are provided with lacing clips the same as those constituting the subject-matter of the above-mentioned pending application Serial No. 332,754. Each of these clips consists of a strip of thin,.sheet metal having a bend forming a U-shaped loop.I8, and two flat end portions constituting a short terminal portion I6 and a long terminal portion Il. The terminal portions I6 and I1 extend in a common directionfrom the ends of the arms ofthe loop I8 and lie in confronting relation to each other. When these lacing clips are applied to the quarter margins I2, the loops I8 are arranged to form bridges on the outer surface of the boot where they will maintain bights of the lacing I3 on the outer surface of the quarter margins. The terminal portions I6 and I! are provided with registering perforations to receive an anchoring fastener such as an eyelet.

It is customary to make the quarters of boots of this type of two layers of leather. In Fig. 2 the outer layer is indicated at 20 and the inner layer at 2|. In this example, the incisions I5 are made only in the outer layer but the fastenerreceiving holes I4 extend through both layers. The lacing clip shown in this figure is applied by inserting the long terminal portion I'I through the incision I5 and locating it between the layers 20 and 2|. Then, while the perforations in the terminal portions I6 and I! are in register with a fastener-receiving hole I4, an eyelet is inserted through both layers and both terminal portions and clenched. The pre-formed head or flange 22 of the eyelet is placed against the inner layer 2| and the entering end 23 of the barrel is roll-clenched against the terminal portion I6 with pressure to clamp both layers 26 and ZI and both terminal portions I6 and H. The terminal portion I6 then serves as a washer for the clenched end of the eyelet.

The layers 20 and 2| are otherwise connected by two lines of stitches 24 and 25. procedure may be as follows to obtain the arrangement shown in Fig. 2; first, punch the incisions I5 in the layer 28; assemble the layers 2 and 2I and sew the stitches 24 and 25; punch the length to extend through a full complement of holes I4 in both layers 26 and ZI while using The factory the incisions l and a suitable gage to locate the holes; insert the terminal portions ll through the incisions l5; and finally, insert and clench the anchoring fasteners.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 3 permits punching the incisions l5 and the holes I 4 at the same time, permits anchoring the lacing clips to the outer layer 30 before the inner layer 3! is assembled therewith, and avoids inserting the anchoring fasteners through the inner layer. Shorter fasteners may be used for this type of work, and, if preferred, the head 22 of an eyelet may be placed on the terminal portion IE to locate the clenched portion 23 of the eyelet where it will be concealed. The terminal portion I! then serves as a washer for the clenched end 23. After the clips have been secured to the outer layer 30 the layers 30 and 3| may be assembled and connected by sewing the stitches 35 and another row corresponding to the stitches 24. In Fig. 3 the separation of thelayer 3! from the other elements has no significance except to afford a clear view of the manner in which the clip is anchored.

If the lacing clips are to .be applied as shown in Fig. 4 the layers 40 and 4| of the quarter margins may be connected by stitches 44 and 45 before the holes l4 and incisions I5 are punched,

because these holes and incisions will be punched common to all is that the incisions l5 and the intersecting portions of the clips restrain the latter against swinging about the anchoring fasteners. The supplemental security thus afforded to the clips is especially beneficial to the two clips at the lower ends of the series when the lacing is being pulled toward the top of the boot, and to the two clips at the upper ends when the lacing is being tied across that pair. The loops l8 are provided with U-shaped revolute side margins that constitute beads. Portions of these formations abut the terminal portions I! and are therefore arranged to extend through the incisions l5 and engage the ends of the latter without cutting or chafing the material intersected by them.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A boot upper comprising quarters having separable cooperative lacing margins and a series of incisions in each of them, a plurality of sheet metal strips each having a U-shaped loop portion extending through one of said incisions and engaging both ends thereof, and each having flat confronting end portions lying against opposite faces of the upper back of the corresponding incision, the loop portion of each strip being formed and arranged to provide a lacing bridge on the outer face of the upper, and clenched fasteners each extending through both end portions of a strip and through the interposed portion of the upper.

2. A boot upper as specified in claim 1 comprising plural layers of upper material in each of said lacing margins, and a row of stitches uniting the lacing edges of said layers, said incisions being located back of said row of stitches.

SYLVESTER R. GOOKIN. 

